Further to the earlier announced investment programme, in early 2010 Uralkali (Berezniki, Perm Territory) plans to launch the second production line with capacity of 1.5 million tonnes at the Fourth Mine Division Chemical Plant. In line with proposed plans, investment into production development will be USD 170 per tonne of additional capacity, inclusive of the capacities launched in 2006-2008.

Following the launch of the second line, the first line that has been used continuously since 1992, will cease operations for 1 year for capital repair. The value of the planned investment into the line’s repair and modernization is 1.5 billion roubles. This production downtime will be used to substitute the old skip hoists at the Second and Fourth Mine Divisions, which have been used for 40 and 22 years respectively. The total of 2 billion roubles will be invested into the project that is expected to boost the capacity of the mine elevators by 1.5 times.

Below is Uralkali’s structural capacity and maximum potential output for years 2008-2011.

Year	Structural capacity (million tonnes)	Maximum potential output (million tonnes)
2008	5.35	5.35
2009	5.5	5.5
2010	7	5.5
2011	7	7

Vladislav Baumgertner, CEO of Uralkali, said: “Throughout the last several years Uralkali has been fully loading its production facilities to satisfy the world’s growing demand in potassium chloride. We view the launch of new capacities as a priority task and will do our best to fulfil it. Accordingly, we feel it is very important to modernize the first production line to ensure its efficient operation in the future”.